Posts Tagged ‘luther’

I’ve had the following quotation by Martin Luther open on my desktop for the past couple of weeks, thanks to my friend Steve:

“Let us thank God, therefore, that we have been delivered from this monster of uncertainty and that now we can believe for a certainty that the Holy Spirit is crying and issuing that sigh too deep for words in our hearts.

And this is our foundation:

The gospel commands us to look, not at our own good deeds or perfection, but at God as he promises, and at Christ himself, the Mediator…

And this is the reason our theology is certain: It snatches us away from ourselves and places us outside of ourselves, so that we do not depend on our strength, conscience, experience, person, or works but depend on that which is outside ourselves, that is, on the promise and truth of God which cannot deceive” ( LW 26:387).

Truth, that. It’s not that we chose Christ, but that he chose us. It’s not that we were baptized, but that he baptized us. It’s not even that we have enough faith — but that we can have faith in Christ’s promises.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10